ATP first 100 hours

[Monkworks]

Supplement to my ATP review after 100 hours…

I wanted to add this in about the stock coil that comes with the atp. This may provide some more insight or help your decision to purchase the atpro.

Disclaimer: I have two years metal detecting experience and less than 200 hours on the atp International. I am not asking you to buy the atp or even telling you not to buy the atp, that is completely up to you. I am also not a sales person trying to sell any other detector.

Now to my points about the stock DD coil that comes with the atp package.

I personally feel the DD coil included with the atp package would not be the correct configuration for most hunting locations in my area. I live on the outskirts of a big city that has a history of over 100 years. There is some possibility of hunting farm fields but that’s not where I find myself hunting. I (we) tend to hunt in local parks and the age of these parks…

Why is the age of the park relevant in this review of the DD coil? Older parks mean a lot more trash to content with. The older the park the more congested and tightly packed the trash layer will be. Especially if the park is a hub of human activity. These parks are usually the most challenging and demanding for the Detectorist in terms of understanding the signals the atp will provide. Also the most rewarding in terms of coinage and rings that have dropped over time there… In fact tightly packed trash layers exceeding 100 years old can be almost impossible to work…An example would be bottle-caps that are stacked on top of each other and mixed in with coinage and other bits of iron, copper and lead… just a frustrating and confusing mess of signals that will challenge even the most learned and experienced Detectoist. The DD coil is the wrong tool and you will be lucky to find anything of interest in a short period of time… sure, working with the DD coil and a large time investment will eventually find you some silver, but you will need to work hard and get ready to find endless trash…

If you’re going to get the atp, and going to work parks… I recommend you get the sniper coil. This is the correct tool for extremely trashy parks… The DD coil is just too big to get in-between the junk to identify those sweet singles. If you’re only going to be working farm fields and large open areas that are not trashy you should be fine with the DD coil…

Here is where my comments might get some flames from the fan-boys of the atp…

Why oh why can’t I select the coil I want in the package? Why am I forced to get DD coil? Well you know why… because they want more money… I find this insulting because if you read my review of the atp, I feel it’s a little too pricey for is position or class in the range of detectors out there and to make me also have to buy another coil seem to be in the design of the packages offered…It’s almost like they know you will need that small coil…

Just my 2 cents…

 

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[rick67]

OMG! WHY ARE YOU STILL CRYING! You have got to be the loneliest guy in Canada.

 

[swagman]

You have some valid points and some not so valid, true a certain coil works in certain area's but what you forget is that the ATPRO is sold as is for the general detector with not knowing where that detector will be detecting. If you wanted a smaller coil then the ATGOLD would have been more suitable for you and from what I hear it seems to go just a shade deeper then the PRO.

People making reviews is fine as long they don't slam the product or another brand, reviews are suppose to be constuctive in nature so that people can be honestly informed. As far as how much you have found in 100 hours has only a small amount to do with detector, a reasonable amount with the user and a huge amount with LOCATION!! if it is not there you will not find it, so my advise is research a given area.

I have no trouble cutting thru years and years of canslaw and pull tabs with the 8 x 11 or the 5 x 8 coil, do I still dig up pull tabs? you bet I do!! if you don't then you will miss out on that find of a life time.Get rid of all the rubbish in the top layer and you will start picking up better targets underneath.

Personally I feel confident in the ATPRO, I think all one needs is the 5 x 8 coil for trashy parks and a 15 inch coil (talking Nell here) to go deeper and to keep at and not bum out on a few lousy hunts that did not produce much (We all have dry spells).

Thank you for your review, Good luck and HH

 

[bigfoot1]

monkworks,
I too wish I could have chosen the 5x8 dd when purchased.It would seem that your above post could substitute bout any machine.Trash is the bane and beauty of what we do.pounded parks still have good finds avail.because of trash.If not for difficult hunting conditions and the need for specialty equipt.for particular sites there would be more detectorists out there than joggers.
I guess we take the good with the bad,accept the challenges,patiently learn a new language with every machine,get the accessories we need and end up with far superior results than the walmart detectorist crowd.God bless them tho,our machines would cost three times as much without the twice a year gang.
cheers

 

[Monkworks]

swagman
bigfoot1

Great stuff man! I know we could have great talks and conversations. So thank you both!

Agreed, its hard to sell a product that is very dependent on the all mighty LUCK factor in terms of where you live (Swagman's point),and your ability to use the tool correctly. The worlds economy.

others,

I post a little left of the atp because its got a massive reputation and one could never provide a good review. We all have seen the best of the best with atp written all over it. Yes. It has great functionality (will not go through the list). Its market and street cred is over the top. There is nothing that can seem to compete in the mid range... they~ may do as they please... and what do I care? I don't want to see 100s of detectorists in my area, that would mean my probability would drop and nothing would be found consistently. My review was hard off center purposely. Its just another opinion that you , Joe reader can use to make your final decision, that's all...

I am a new Detectorist, but a consistent one. I could have more hours than a 3 year guy..Who knows... and we would need to firm up a formula to use for how experienced you are. I go by hours. My dad has had a detector for years but we could constitute 200 hour to his entire career in metal detecting. I have over a thousand hours in metal Detecting in less than two years. So i am no spring chicken but have been migrating through hardware, and learning along the way. The atp review was intend to document my experience so far, take it as you will.

Update of the progression of my learning cure, with the atp:

I am getting better at determining bottle-caps from coins and I continue to be curious about where the atp will take me in terms of targets and finds. So the review was not intended to be negative. I will expand this thread as i discover things about the atp that need documented.

 

[bigfoot1]

well spoken.atp language is like chineese language a bit.It sort of depends on the region you are in if you know whats being said.Its a talkitive machine but it does have important things to say.once the bottlecap language barrier is resolved you are on your way to becoming fluent.Only then can a review of its performance in whole be fairly givin.
Your documentation of the learning curve is novel and will provide many with an insight,but only if you see it through.All the way through.You may find you understand the accolades,you may not,but only then will it matter anyways.
hang tough and please continue to document your journey

 

[Monkworks]

Hey I’m back.

I figure I better circle round after my full season of using the ATP and document how I feel about the detector now, so many months later. I live in Southern Ontario. We have a rich history starting mainly from the 1800s. There is a lot of 1800s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s silver to be discovered in the ground up here.


Right off the bat I want to say I have learned a lot about “where you hunt”. Where you hunt is the most important part of detecting! Even more important than the hardware you use. I now have over 400+ hours on the ATP. Right way, I want to point out how tough this detector is. I have dragged it though the bush, bounced off rocks and boulders. Jared off stumps and logs. 400 hours and it works fine. I have had one issue with my head phones. One of the speakers is not working. I think this was because the wire got pulled off from where its coming out of the head bracket to the speaker, shorted or something…Easy fix. So it’s certainly built tough. Good job USA!


I made some great discoveries this year. I will highlight a few that I feel are important finds. 1852 Bank Token, 2x 1885 Canadian silver dimes, 1850 Canadian silver Nickel and a hand full of Victorian large cents. Lots of the regular suspects like the 1930-1960 silver, many silver rings and 2 gold rings. Our Canadian 1800s dimes and nickels are also very small; (Weight: 1.16 Grams/ Diameter:15.5 mm). Not bad for a guy who has 3 hours on a weekend. I do spend 100s of hours researching, and that my brothers is the key!


Back to the hardware: My setup is simple and effective. I run the ATP with the discrimination on high. I notch out everything and only leave open 81-98. Iron audio is full (40) this improved the amount of silver finds and reduced the garbage. The trade off is you lose a little depth. Yes, I still found gold rings in this setup. What I’m avoiding is 1980s coinage, zinc, and junk. I recommend this setup for my type of environments (forest, rivers and fields). I really don’t bother with parks anymore, took me this long to find out that parks are a waste of time, for me anyway. I have hunted parks that were full of great finds, but that was like hitting the loto. This place was very very rare indeed, and once the detecting community found out, there was a guy there 24-7. Overrun with waiting in the wings detectorist. Funny actually how that works and a story for another time. Just a word of warning. Do not post the names of the locations and show lots of old silver coins coming out of the ground on your YOUTUBE channel you will regret that…


I guess in a word I am happy with the ATP. I am so comfortable now with the ATP when I considered upgrading to an E-Trac, or the deus I had to really consider what I was getting and decided to just stick with my ATP for now. I may get a bigger coil. But I don’t think moving up to a new $2000 detector will make that much more of a difference. I go hunting with a few guys and have been hunting with the E-trac and the Deus so I know how they perform and it’s only a “little better” not worth the money at this point in my detecting career. AND I am not a Garret employee!

To sum it up. The ATP although a little higher in price than what I personally feel is appropriate. It’s a tough detector that can play with the big boys and sometimes even out gun them. The learning curve is not pretty and actually rather demanding until you start to understand your conditions and your goals.

If you want to see what I have found kindly look me up on YOUTUBE. My channel name is UPPERCANADA HUNTER.

Thanks for reading!

 

[perry2]

Whats the point? I started 15 yrs ago with a BH-moved up to a Whites DFX , and now an ATP each is MUCH better than the last (in my opinion//) and I suspect the next one will be better than the ATP--for now I'll stick with the ATP// Perry

 

[digger460]

What Bigfoot and Choppadude said

 

[Rustynailsandscrews]

For the OP.
At it's price point you would be hard pressed to find a better detector then the AT Pro.
Nothing against Bounty Hunter and I own a BH 505 and BH Discovery 3200.
Do Bounty Hunters work ?
Of course they do, but on any given day the AT Pro will stomp the guts out of either of them and step on their balls.
That's why the Bounty Hunters sit in a closet collecting dust and I have to find someone to dump them on.
You can not bull feces me that a $60.00 BH even comes close to the AT Pro because they are not even in the same ball park and light years apart.
In my own yard that I had hunted to death with the Bounty Hunters, the first time out with the AT Pro I was finding coins the Bounty Hunters never even had a clue were there and keep in mind I had used Bounty Hunter 4" sniper, standard 8" and 10" coils with both machines and that's no bull feces.
Metal detecting is a hobby that you decide what your willing to spend money on and in the case of the OP it sounds like he is a Bounty Hunter guy who doesn't want to spend much money on the hobby and is suffering buyers remorse and came over from the Bounty Hunter forum to spread and start some feces.
Sell the AT Pro which will hold it's value unlike a Bounty Hunter and buy a better Bounty Hunter.
Every detector brand has it's loyal followers and for me it's Garrett and I'm never going back to a BH.
To each there own and what one person can spend, another may not be able to afford, so you buy the best you can afford.
Is the AT Pro worth it ?
I think so and I'm very happy with it and the service from Garrett is second to none.
When, I at my own fault broke my AT Pro and admitted that to Garrett that it was my fault they fixed it for free.
If the OP wants to upgrade his $60.00 BH to better Bounty Hunters, PM me because I have two in great shape that I need to dump on someone and you can go over to the Bounty Hunter Forum and tell everyone what a great deal you got.
That's the end of my rant

 

[Rustynailsandscrews]

For the OP.
At it's price point you would be hard pressed to find a better detector then the AT Pro.
Nothing against Bounty Hunter and I own a BH 505 and BH Discovery 2200.
Do Bounty Hunters work ?
Of course they do, but on any day the AT Pro will stomp the guts out of either of them and step on their balls.
That's why the Bounty Hunters sit in a closet collecting dust and I have to find someone to dump them on.
You can not bull feces me that a $60.00 BH toy that I would buy for a child, even comes close to the AT Pro because they are not even in the same ball park and light years apart.
In my own yard that I had hunted to death with the Bounty Hunters, the first time out with the AT Pro I was finding coins the Bounty Hunters never even had a clue were there and keep in mind I had used Bounty Hunter 4" sniper, standard 8" and 10" coils with both machines and that's no bull feces.
Metal detecting is a hobby that you decide what your willing to spend money on and in the case of the OP it sounds like he is a Bounty Hunter guy who doesn't want to spend much money on the hobby and is suffering buyers remorse and came over from the Bounty Hunter forum to start and spread some feces.
Sell the AT Pro which will hold it's value unlike a Bounty Hunter and buy a better Bounty Hunter.
Every detector brand has it's loyal followers and for me it's Garrett and I'm never going back to a BH.
To each there own and what one person can spend, another may not be able to afford, so you buy the best you can afford.
Is the AT Pro worth it ?
I think so and I'm very happy with it and the service from Garrett is second to none.
When, I at my own fault broke my AT Pro and admitted to Garrett that it was my fault they fixed it for free.
If the OP wants to upgrade his $60.00 BH to better Bounty Hunters, PM me because I have two in great shape and will sell them cheap.
I tried selling them to the villiage idiot but he backed out on the deal.
I need to dump them on someone.
The OP should PM me if interested for a great deal.

 

[DiggerKeith]

I have a BH discovery 3300 and I have found tons of coins and trash with it. The first time I hunted with the 3300 i found a 1920 d standing liberty quarter 5 inches deep , the coin ended up being a rare date worth $150 and paid for the detector.
Don't get me wrong I like the at pro and as i get use to it I am sure I will like it a lot more , especially since its waterproof. I have hunted many times in my yard with the 3300 finding coins each time and today I found more coins with the at pro
that apparently the 3300 missed . So to me that is a good sign that the money spent is going to be worth it. The 3300 came with a 5 year warranty vs 2 years on the at pro. I think Garrett should let you choose which coil you want when you buy
the detector and have the final price reflect. Monkworks is spot on with his review and comparison as I too own both machines. The iron audio on the atp does help me filtering bottle caps usually, the 3300 doesn't offer that feature. I also get more
depth with the atp and the atp hears a lot more targets, the atp processes the signals faster, hears multiple targets which the 3300 doesn't. I would recommend beginners get a machine like the BH 3300 or the ace 350 and learn the basics before
jumping into a more expensive and more complex machine. Keeping my BH 3300 as a back up in case my atp needs fixed but will use the atp as primary detector.